THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA
www.kalatas.com.au | Volume 4 Number 8 | May 2014
EDITORIAL & OPINION
11
THER’S DAY?
I would pamper my mum with the LR Range of beauty
products and make up items that she prefers to use personally.
I would surprise her by promoting her
business’ facial massage and health/spa
amenities. I’d love to buy her a jewellery
to her liking or maybe nice clothes that
suits her tall and slim figure.
I’m gonna treat my mum to travel abroad, preferably a visit
to see me here in Sydney from the Philippines and just spend
that good quality time with me. It’s my
dream to take her to Paris for signature
brand shopping like Channel, Louis
Vuitton, Christian Dior, Pierre Cardin or
YSL just to completely pamper her with
my lifetime savings …
I’ll start my mother’s day treat with “Tapsilog or Longsilog”,
her special Pinoy breakfast favourites at Top Top Café. Secretly, I’ll
gather her best friends there to indulge
on their favourite “Sans Rival” or Ube
Halaya cakes as they sip that baristamade coffees while exchanging smiles
and good time stories. I’ll hug her and get
her to choose her gift!
Dennis Rudman
Cathrine Patron
Myra Cillo
Campbelltown
Hassall Grove
Wenworthville
HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE
PROCEED WITH CAUTION
Let’s talk about pain
Free speech
re-education
I
Illustration by REY RIVERA
P
ain is part of the
human condition,
something we have to go through
from time to time. Some go through a lot more of it than others. It could be
easy or hard, but pain is there. It
is an inevitable part of life.
Still, we wish to avoid it as
much as we can. Civilization is
all about making things easier
and avoiding pain. It is the purpose of all development to overcome inconvenience, discomfort, hardship and pain. We want
life to be as pain-free as possible.
And yet, pain still happens,
and sometimes we see so much of
it that we are shaken to the core.
When we watch the news, war,
violence, tragedy, racism, discrimination, hunger, alienation,
social inequity and emotional
trauma shove pain into our faces. It is hard to fathom how people who actually experience these
firsthand can cope. Those of us
who are far from such events may
feel the pain less, but we can’t really escape it.
Pain comes with being alive in
the world. When you think about
it, all our attempts at maturity, religion, wealth creation, economic, social, medical progress, governmental efforts, etc. are created and evolving to control pain
somehow and make a “better
world” for everyone.
But do you see that, ironically, the ways to avoid pain still
require that we undergo some
pain?
Of course. But the difference
is, the pain we must go through
to improve the world is necessary
pain, not the mindless type that
only creates havoc and tragedy.
Here are some examples.
To be educated is to feel far
less pain than to remain ignorant, at least in theory. To be
healthy is far less painful than
being sick. To be mature helps
us deal with pain without losing
our composure.
But in order to be educated,
healthy and mature, we need to
undergo the pain of discipline,
delayed gratification, emotional control, overcoming laziness
and keeping ourselves challenged and motivated. Doing
all this can be painful, but it is
better to tolerate the “good” pain
than allow unnecessary pain to
keep happening.
We relate to pain in many
ways. Some of us can take it for
what it is, while others may offer it to God as a form of sacrifice, and still others see it as way
to shape their character. We may
turn to religion and meditation
to help us understand pain and
suffering. But for those who are
otherwise inclined, there are
painkillers to help them cope
better.
S p i r i t u a l teachers and
some religions tell us that one
way of freeing ourselves from
pain is to embrace it. When we
do, we remove the power of fear
that threatens to overwhelm us
and we end up melting the pain.
That’s what it means when they
say, “What you resist, persists.”
We must go with the flow.
This actually works for me.
Another thing that helps me is
objectifying pain. Though I feel
physical, emotional or spiritual pain, I try not to identify with
it, or allow it to define who I am.
Instead of saying, “I am sad,”
it helps when I say, “I feel sad.”
There is a big difference there.
The first refers to an identity, the
second is a feeling. And we all
know that feelings come and go.
Physical pain is a bit more
difficult to handle. But I can still
ease my suffering by reframing
the experience and telling myself that it is “my body” that is
HUMMING, Page 12
JIM PAREDES
is a multifaceted creative. He sings,
composes, writes articles and books, teaches
at the Ateneo De Manila University, designs
and facilitates various types of workshops.
He is also a writer of books, a widely read
columnist for the Sunday Life section of Philippine Star, and a
well-known photographer. This article was also published by
the Philippine Star.
have yet to hear any Filipino-Australian individual or group formally supporting the
proposal by the Attorney-General George Brandis to repeal or amend Section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) because any support is automatically branded as racist like
when Andrew Bolt was accused of being racist for using
the term white Aborigines. So
already in unison and like dominos, we saw the leaders of
APCO, Migrante NSW, and
Global Filipinos Australia
were already at arms against
any amendment to the RDA,
perhaps without fully understanding free speech. I may be
the only one in the community calling for broader free
speech, yet for doing so; I am
at the risk of being labelled as
a self-hating Filipino. Don’t
get me wrong, I certainly am
against bigotry and racism and
I support the Filipino community or any other ethnic communities’ efforts to be protected from any racial vilification and intimidation; but I am
also against any or all of these
groups getting immunity from
criticisms. As a columnist like
Andrew Bolt, I want all views
in the open and in public view
including racist ones. How else, you may ask, as part of the
Australian society, can we determine and formulate healthy and socially correct policies if we don’t engage and accommodate opposing views?
In my April 2014